New Zealand: It's like Scotland, but further away...(and the rest of Sydney)

On the morning of the 14th I caught the ferry from Sydney's Circular Quay over to Manly, a local beach resort North East of the city. Manly forms a peninsula that has bays on both Sydney Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. Walked along Manly Cove, where the waters were calm and clear, and people were diving, then crossed across to North Steyne beach, where the waves were crashing in for the surfers.

Arrived to Sydney Airport early on the morning of the 16th to catch my flight to Queenstown. Bagged myself a emergency exit seat on the plane, meaning more leg room. Was sitting next to the one and only Matt McFadyen, the youngest Aussie to ski unassisted to the North Pole (not to be confused with Matthew MacFadyen, who was in Spooks...). He was off to give a speech at a pharmaceutical conference in Queenstown and he showed me his presentation, including videos of his expedition.

The descent into Queenstown airport was interesting, to say the least...cruising over the mountains with a fair bit of turbulence, before a steep descent onto the runway, but a more picturesque airport you will struggle to find. Picked up my rental car, which has all the mod-cons, including a tape deck, electric front windows and 7 different speeds of intermittent windscreen wiper-ing.

The hostel was excellent, ranked as the best hostel in the entire country, so I set the bar high very early, so will only be disappointed for the next 41 nights in other hostels...Queenstown itself is a lovely place, situated on the banks of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by mountains.

The following day I went up on the Skyline Gondola to a lookout that gave views over the town and the lake. At the bottom of the gondola was a birdlife park, where they had many native NZ birds on show, all who were recovering from injuries or simply not up to living in the wild.

Drove south to Te Anau, 2 hours from Queenstown, but again, situated on a lake. Weather was much less attractive, and I experienced temperatures of under 20 degrees for the first time in a month!

Early start the following morning as I'd booked onto a coach trip to Milford Sound, 2 hours drive north west of Te Anau. Turned out there was only 2 of us on the tour, and the other person was Japanese and spoke very little English! Nevertheless, the driver, Bret, ploughed on, giving us (me) interesting information about the scenery along the road, the history of the Sound and the road itself and some inside secrets about the goings-on in the village of Milford Sound, that I doubt would make it onto the regular tour! Arrived at the sound in time for the 10.30 cruise, which took us up the sound and out onto the ocean. The scenery was stunning, with mile high mountains going vertically up on either side of us, and lots of waterfalls on either side due to the amount of recent rain.

The weather for the cruise wasn't great, with rain showers coming and going throughout, but that was unsurprising given that it rains 200 days a year, and the Fiordland area gets an average of 7 METRES of rain a year, with the record being nearly 15 metres in the 1980s.

Left Te Anau the next morning, heading back north, stopping for lunch in Arrowtown, and old gold mining village that has kept its old buildings for its new shops. Continued up highway 8 on my way to Lake Tekapo, only to find that the road was closed due to a fatal crash an hour north of Cromwell. Decided that it was not worth continuing up that night, as the road would not open until after 7pm, and I was there at 2pm, so I headed back to Cromwell to find a place to stay for the night, which ended up being a chalet on a holiday camp that was like something out of Hi-de-Hi, but still, it was cheap and reasonable. Continued my journey up highway 8 the next day, as it had re-opened, and I headed up to Mount Cook village, where they had a museum named after Sir Edmund Hilary, which contained pictures of him on his everest climb, as well as his climbs of Mt Cook itself. Couldn't actually see the mountain due to clouds, but the views around were still good.

Finally reached Lake Tekapo and realised there wasn't a great amount to do here anyway, so was a good job I didn't come for 2 nights. Climbed Mount John, which gave great views of the lake and the surrounding MacKenzie Country. This brought the tally of 'Mountains I've Climbed in the Last 6 Months' to 3, and took my lifetime tally, also, to 3...

End of Melbourne, Start of Sydney

The day following the Great Ocean Rd adventure we had a late start, driving down to Phillip Island in the afternoon to see the wildlife on show there. Unfortunately the seals that were supposed to be on the rocks at the Nobbies were so far away that we couldnt see them.

Then we went 3km down the coast to watch the imaginatively named Little Penguins come up to shore, cross the beach and head up to their nests on the dunes, all under the cover of darkness. Couldn't take any pictures of that though.

Lazy day on the 5th, spent some time at the beach before having a BBQ for Caroline's birthday. The Gould family flew home early the next morning. We went down to St Kilda the next evening for a great meal at a Cantonese Restaurant.

On the Saturday I did my duty as a Brit and former student by going on the tour of the Neighbours set, where they took us to the tiny Ramsey Street cul-de-sac and the studio where they film all the outside bits, before taking us to a random riverbank to meet Dr Karl, the only actor who stayed in Melbourne over their 5 week break from filming...

Finished off my stay in Melbourne with a visit to Der Raum, ranked one of the best cocktail bars in the world, which certainly lived up to its reputation, with one cocktail being served in a tonic bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag...

Caught my flight to Sydney on the 11th, checked into the new hostel before walking up to Circular Quay for my first glimpse at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Booked myself onto the 17.30 Bridge Climb, where we got to walk along the top of the arch right to the top, standing at double the height of the tallest sail of the Opera House. Not great weather, with wind and rain, but spectacular views nonetheless.

On Wednesday I walked up to Darling Harbour, visiting the Maritime Museum (it was free...) and the Wildlife World, followed by another trip to the Harbour Bridge, this time to climb the stone pylons, for the weather was sunny and good for photos

Melbourne Weeks 1 & 2

Arrived into Melbourne Tullamarine at 9am on the 22nd, twelve hours after my scheduled arrival, thanks to the snow in London.  Picked up by Matt and went back to his apartment in Port Melbourne, with great views of the Melbourne's Central Business District

A spot of footie on the beach was followed by a beer on the balcony, before checking into the slightly dubious looking hostel in central Melbourne. In the evening we went to the Queen Victoria night market, but with all the people, and loud music it wasn't really the place to be when jetlagged, so I gave up and went to bed at 9pm.

Spent most of Thursday at Middle Park Cricket Club watching Matt's team play against the Barmy Army, which produced some good banter and 'inspirational' music from the Barmy Army trumpeter.

Much of Xmas Eve morning was spent wandering round Melbourne's many shops in search for Zoe's 'secret santa' present. Having found something suitably tacky I headed to Federation Square, next to Flinders Street Station, with its strange architecture.

That afternoon we walked down South Melbourne beach to a beach-side bar to meet Caroline's parents for a drink. In the evening we headed back to Fed Square to watch the screening of a carol concert.

Surprised to see so many shops open on Xmas Day, plus the trams and trains running. Luke and I set an early pace by winning Trivial Pursuit after breakfast. That was followed up by a BBQ'd lunch, with chicken, turkey an shrimp.

Boxing Day was the start of the Test match at the MCG, so we headed off early to get there for the start. Had a good view, sitting on the top tier just to the left of the pitch. England obviously had a lot of success, which made for a good day.

A lazy day followed, watching the 2nd day of the Test on TV, followed by some drinks on the Southbank with Liam, Andrew and Cheggs, who had come over from Perth for the cricket.

Back to the MCG for day 3 of the match, sat towards midwicket this time, but still a great view. Another dominant day for England, setting up for the win on day 4. Headed down to Swan Street for a drink at the Post Office with the Thomas' and Matt's friends Oli and Karen, before going for some Mexican grub and then going to the Little Creature's brewery for a few more drinks.

Decided to go to day 4 of the cricket, knowing that England only needed 3 wickets to retain the Ashes. Paid the $31 entry fee, only to find out that they were letting people in for free after the first wicket of the day fell. Great atmosphere, sat on the bottom tier just round from the Barmy Army.

The next day saw us going to the MCG yet again, this time to do the stadium tour, where we got to look behind the scenes of the impressive stadium, followed by a look round the National Sport Museum.

New Year's Eve was exceptionally hot, pushing 40 degrees at some point. We spent some time on the beach, but the strong winds put paid to that. In the evening we went to town to watch the early fireworks by the rivr bank, before going back to Matt's to watch the midnight fireworks that were let off the top of the tall buildings in the city.

Caroline's sister arrived just before New Year, so we spent the day showing her round the city, walking through the Botanic Gardens and up to the World War 1 memorial shrine, followed up a meal at the World restaurant on the Left Bank.

Went to the Gaol on the 2nd, where Ned Kelly was imprisoned and hanged, before going to the MCG yet again for the start of the domestic 20/20 competition between Victoria and Queensland.

On the 3rd we did the long drive down the Great Ocean Road, towards Port Campbell, where the 12 Apostles (rock stacks off the coast) are located. Stopped for a while in Lorne and Apollo Bay for some food.




On the 4th we went to Phillip Island, 2 hours drive away from Melbourne, to see the Little Penguins come on to land after sunset. Not able to take any photos of them though, as it would disturb their route back to their nests.